Associate Health Minister David Seymour speaks about Pharmac and myeloma blood cancer drugs. Video / NZ Herald
Act leader David Seymour says he wants private schools to get a bigger subsidy from the Government – and the move has some support from Labour leader Chris Hipkins providing it isn’t at the cost of programmes such as free lunches in state schools.
As associate educationminister, Seymour is reviewing taxpayer funding for private schools, which has not seen a significant lift in 25 years.
It is one of the areas in Act’s coalition agreement with National as part of the former’s wider push to give parents more choice in where to send their children.
Seymour said since a small rise in 2010, there had been no increase or inflation adjustment to the $48 million annual fund and there was a “fairness” argument for parents who paid taxes as well as private school fees, as well as an efficiency argument for it.
“The parents of independent school kids often aren’t as rich as people think. Often they’re making big sacrifices because, for whatever reason, they would prefer to send their kid to a particular school. They pay just as much tax as anyone else. And yet the money that comes back for their kids’ education has effectively been getting smaller over the last 15 years.”
The fund is divided out among independent schools at a set rate per student: in 2023 that meant payments ranging from $1012 for a junior student up to $2155 for senior secondary students. The average per-student funding for state schools in 2022 was $10,135 for operations and teacher salaries.
He would not reveal if he has secured any funding in this year’s Budget but said he had “made my representations”.
Act leader David Seymour wants private schools to get a bigger subsidy from the Government. Photo / Michael Craig
“This is obviously a very challenging area for any government that’s facing the kind of fiscal crunch that our own is. But there’s a strong principle position.”
He said it would also help ensure independent schools remained viable, saying if the private school sector disappeared overnight the total cost of education to the taxpayer would go up 5 per cent because of the added students in state schools.
Asked how he would explain putting more money into private schools while cutting funding to the school lunch programme in state schools, Seymour said making it easier for parents to put their kids into private schools would free up money for state schools.
Seymour has said he plans to trim back the Healthy School Lunches – Ka Ora, Ka Ako, which feeds children in almost 1000 schools and costs $323m. He defended taking such a move.
“We’re taking the best aspects of it, that provides nutrition at a crucial time of day and helps kids stay engaged in school – or at least that’s the theory – and we are making sure it goes to the right kids and is done in a way that is cost-effective.”
Seymour has come under fire for saying he will be cutting back the programme. Efforts to keep it as is have attracted more than 70,000 signatures in petitions organised by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Labour Party.
Hipkins said there was a case for lifting the funding of private schools, but if the Government was proposing to do so while cutting programmes such as Healthy School Lunches “then its priorities are out of kilter”.
“I wouldn’t be cutting funding to those other things. If the choice is funding healthy school lunches for poor children in public schools, or more funding for private schools, I’d take the lunches any day of the week.”
Hipkins said private school funding had effectively been frozen for the past 25 years other than a modest top-up in 2010.
“If those schools collapsed, the cost to taxpayers would be higher because the parents pay the lion’s share at the private schools. So I’m sympathetic to the idea there should be some adjustment.”
Seymour said schools such as King’s College and Christ’s College were the stereotypical private schools, but there were several smaller schools that “tradies and small business people” sent their kids to.
The Ministry of Education pays grants towards the operations funding of independent schools out of a $48m a year fund.
